the boys who weren't
by strawberrycreme
Summary: (drabbles) They call kids like us vicious and carved out of stone, but for what we've become, we just feel more alone. Or, what is and what could have been.—natsu, gray, gajeel, lucy, juvia, and others


**notes: **so i was thinking about these boys' pasts and it gave me ideas. this will have like, a parallel to it or something because _things could have gone so much differently. _**  
>summary: <strong>(drabbles) They call kids like us vicious and carved out of stone, but for what we've become, we just feel more alone. (What is and what could have been.)—natsu, gray, gajeel, lucy, wendy, lisanna, and others**  
><strong>**disclaimer: **own nothing

—

_**one**_

humpty dumpty

(_and if there's something wrong, who would have guessed it?_)_  
><em>

.

He doesn't have parents.

Or, at least, that's what he thinks—doesn't have parents, doesn't have memories of before, doesn't have _doesn't have doesn't have doesn't have. _

He's a muddled reflection in a ripple of water—doubts, wishes, wants, and dreams. His past and future are unclear, he's just a kid with nothing. He doesn't have a family to call his own, doesn't know where he came from. So he wanders, and decides that he'll be who he wants, do what he wants. He's a king and a knight—he's a hero.

(He just doesn't _know _it yet.)

The forest is his kingdom, and a marvelous kingdom it is. The towering trees form his castle, the plenteous beds of wild flowers are his treasure, the animals his citizens. He is all by himself with nowhere to go, but that doesn't really register in his young mind. Or maybe it does, but he ignores it in favor of chasing a squirrel.

It's okay, he thinks, because he will be fine. He's always been fine.

This is how the dragon finds him.

A monstrous, fire-breathing, mass of a beast who introduces himself as Igneel. He teaches Natsu about the world—cultures, legends, how to read and write, he even tries to drill some manners into the boy—and they take care of each other. Although, it's mostly Igneel taking care of him, but they become a family. They smile and they laugh as Natsu learns. The dragon has the best laugh—a thunderous, hearty sound that echoes for miles and makes the trees sway and the ground vibrate beneath their feet.

Igneel teaches him magic.

_Dragon slaying magic, Natsu, _his father tells him.

He grows stronger and his father gives him a scarf—it looks like white dragon scales, which is, you know, cool. The best part is that Natsu gets to eat _fire. _Like, actual _flames _that normally give you first-degree burns and sear your flesh off. But no, not Natsu, because now he is impervious to the sparks, and it's amazing. Fire doesn't hurt him, it only makes him stronger.

They have an infinity in a matter of years, and it is perfect.

Until one day, Natsu wakes up and finds that his father his disappeared.

_Igneel, Igneel, Igneel. _He calls and calls until his voice is hoarse and he can hardly see through his tears. _Where did you go? Where, where, where? _

The only response he gets is the low chirping of the birds preparing for bed, and the empty silence of loneliness.

It hurts, because he hasn't been alone in so long that he's forgotten what it feels like—the bitter swell inside his chest, the sadness, the loss. He loves his father very, very much but Igneel has disappeared without a trace, leaving Natsu alone. He feels empty, and he doesn't smile for a long time. It's a wound that doesn't heal for years.

Eventually though, he finds his way to Fairy Tail—a magical guild full of friendly people, all wearing bright smiles who welcome him in like he's one of their own. He makes friends with a pretty little girl with big blue eyes and a demon for an older sister, and a girl who likes to read. They try to cheer him up, and they succeed, sometimes.

It takes him a while, but he finally cracks a smile. Then two, then four, and before long he's laughing with his friends and knocking heads with the new kid who sometimes takes his clothes off without realizing it.

He's eleven and has so much to live for, so much to see, so much to explore. There are hundreds of adventures waiting for him to slip around the corner, a future destined to be saved, but for now he is happy. He still wants—_needs_—closure, because his father just suddenly vanished from his life one day, and he needs to know why. But he saves that for later, and lives in the present.

For now, he is home.

—

**end notes: **next up: two lifetimes of tragedy (gray).


End file.
